Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Watch: How Wong Kar-Wai Paints with Cinematic Color

In Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love, two lonely neighbors in a Hong Kong apartment complex forge a relationship built of the ashes of their respective marriages. Lush red seeps through every frame, imbuing the few words spoken in the film with tempestuous desire. As is Wong’s signature, saturated color floats deep emotion and psychology to the surface.

Wong and his long-time collaborator, the self-taught cinematographer Christopher Doyle (also known as Du Ke Feng in Chinese), have transformed the use of color into their own form of cinematic symbolism. Together with production designer and editor William Chang, Wong and Doyle intuitively react to the locations in which they film; colors and patterns emerge as the process unfolds.